Fresno is a city in central California (Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresno,_California ) and is a two and one-half hour drive from Yosemite National Park. The Fresno airport (Website: http://www.flyfresno.com/ ) is located on the east side of Fresno. Fresno touts itself as centrally located to not only Yosemite, but also to Kings Canyon National Park and also to Sequoia National Park (Website for visiting all three National Parks: http://www.majesticmountainloop.com/ ). Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, and National/Alamo have counters at the Fresno Airport. If you only want to go only to Yosemite, take California Highway 41 north from Fresno for almost 90 miles. The park is home (Website: http://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm ) to 1,200 square miles of towering waterfalls, giant sequoias, broad meadows, narrow canyons and rugged mountains that have hosted visitors more more than 150 years. If you want to only visit Sequoia National Park from Fresno, take CA Highway 168 east from Freno for nearly three and one-half hours. Sequoia (Websites: http://www.nps.gov/seki/index.htm and http://www.visitsequoia.com/ ) is home to the largest living organisms on Earth. Hikers, climbers, outdoors enthusiasts, and everyday travellers all find a place among the rows and rows of 4000 year old sky-scraping elders. Kings Canyon National Park is two hours east of Fresno on CA Highway 180. Day hiking is a popular activity in Kings Canyon National Park (Websites: http://parks.mapquest.com/national-parks/kings-canyon-national-park/ and http://www.americansouthwest.net/california/kings_canyon/national_park.html ). Kings Canyon is similar to Yosemite and Zion National Parks as the central attraction is a deep valley accessible from one end only, surrounded by huge areas of back-country that most people never visit. The canyon is not quite as immediately spectacular as these more famous destinations, but it is much less spoiled by development. If you choose to visit all three parks, plan to take one day for each. As for Fresno, they have a couple of websites for attractions: http://www.explorefresno.com/landmarks.html and http://www.fresno-california.org/index.php?n=7&id=0&TOPIC=Fresno%20Attractions . The best place in Fresno is the Tower district - Fresno's half mile of culture. Primarily populated by artists, bohemians, and people too poor to live in San Francisco; the Tower district's centerpiece its the Art Deco Tower Theater on the corner of Olive and Wishon Avenues. Don't be confused by the Water Tower in downtown Fresno - although it does look cool, it has no district to call its own. In the Tower District you WILL NOT find big name retailers, except for a Starbucks. But you will find performance venues (the Starline, Club Fred, Tower Theater), 20+ restaurants with award winning cuisine (Veni Vidi Vici, Daily Planet , Rousseau, Senses World Cuisine, Livingstones and many others), two theaters (Roger Rocka's dinner theater and the Second Space), several galleries, a microbrewery, and some neat gift shops and bookstores. It's the best place to catch live entertainment in the city. For a list of events in the Tower, visit http://www.towerdistrict.org/ . We liked the Half Dome beer with the Buckeye Flat Frisco Burger at the Sequoia Brewing Company (Website: http://sequoiabrewing.com/ ), but other restaurants seemed just as busy and popular with the locals. The Water Tower in downtown Fresno is an interesting and prominent old water tower that is a major landmark in Fresno and one of the oldest surviving structures in the area. It is essentially a Romanesque Revival-style structure looking vaguely like a romanticised version of a castle. It is now open as a visitor center. Inside, you can get tourist information, buy trinkets, souvenirs and artwork, and see the brick ceiling above which is the old water tank.
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Fresno Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Fresno,_CA
Yosemite National Park Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Yosemite_National_Park
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Kings_Canyon_National_Park
Fresno is a city in central California (Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresno,_California ) and is a two and one-half hour drive from Yosemite National Park. The Fresno airport (Website: http://www.flyfresno.com/ ) is located on the east side of Fresno. Fresno touts itself as centrally located to not only Yosemite, but also to Kings Canyon National Park and also to Sequoia National Park (Website for visiting all three National Parks: http://www.majesticmountainloop.com/ ). Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, and National/Alamo have counters at the Fresno Airport. If you only want to go only to Yosemite, take California Highway 41 north from Fresno for almost 90 miles. The park is home (Website: http://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm ) to 1,200 square miles of towering waterfalls, giant sequoias, broad meadows, narrow canyons and rugged mountains that have hosted visitors more more than 150 years. If you want to only visit Sequoia National Park from Fresno, take CA Highway 168 east from Freno for nearly three and one-half hours. Sequoia (Websites: http://www.nps.gov/seki/index.htm and http://www.visitsequoia.com/ ) is home to the largest living organisms on Earth. Hikers, climbers, outdoors enthusiasts, and everyday travellers all find a place among the rows and rows of 4000 year old sky-scraping elders. Kings Canyon National Park is two hours east of Fresno on CA Highway 180. Day hiking is a popular activity in Kings Canyon National Park (Websites: http://parks.mapquest.com/national-parks/kings-canyon-national-park/ and http://www.americansouthwest.net/california/kings_canyon/national_park.html ). Kings Canyon is similar to Yosemite and Zion National Parks as the central attraction is a deep valley accessible from one end only, surrounded by huge areas of back-country that most people never visit. The canyon is not quite as immediately spectacular as these more famous destinations, but it is much less spoiled by development. If you choose to visit all three parks, plan to take one day for each. As for Fresno, they have a couple of websites for attractions: http://www.explorefresno.com/landmarks.html and http://www.fresno-california.org/index.php?n=7&id=0&TOPIC=Fresno%20Attractions . The best place in Fresno is the Tower district - Fresno's half mile of culture. Primarily populated by artists, bohemians, and people too poor to live in San Francisco; the Tower district's centerpiece its the Art Deco Tower Theater on the corner of Olive and Wishon Avenues. Don't be confused by the Water Tower in downtown Fresno - although it does look cool, it has no district to call its own. In the Tower District you WILL NOT find big name retailers, except for a Starbucks. But you will find performance venues (the Starline, Club Fred, Tower Theater), 20+ restaurants with award winning cuisine (Veni Vidi Vici, Daily Planet , Rousseau, Senses World Cuisine, Livingstones and many others), two theaters (Roger Rocka's dinner theater and the Second Space), several galleries, a microbrewery, and some neat gift shops and bookstores. It's the best place to catch live entertainment in the city. For a list of events in the Tower, visit http://www.towerdistrict.org/ . We liked the Half Dome beer with the Buckeye Flat Frisco Burger at the Sequoia Brewing Company (Website: http://sequoiabrewing.com/ ), but other restaurants seemed just as busy and popular with the locals. The Water Tower in downtown Fresno is an interesting and prominent old water tower that is a major landmark in Fresno and one of the oldest surviving structures in the area. It is essentially a Romanesque Revival-style structure looking vaguely like a romanticised version of a castle. It is now open as a visitor center. Inside, you can get tourist information, buy trinkets, souvenirs and artwork, and see the brick ceiling above which is the old water tank.